1.  Kip

2.  Visitors

3.  Kip

The moment, at 1am, when The Man took over Son 2 aged 10m who had been howling for two hours, was a Good Thing.  Jaysus, once that child gets over-tired there is nothing to be done with him.  I held him ,I rocked him, I lay beside him on the double bed.  Each time he went to sleep, and each time, as soon as I put him in the cot… MELTDOWN.   So loud it hurt my teeth. And then he woke up again at 0530.  And so did Son 1 aged 3y 10m.  The day began.

Murky rain.  One set of Wednesday friends went off to see grandparents today.   So the others came round here.  “Don’t get out the pirate stuff,” I said to Son 1.  “It’s too dangerous for Son 2 and the nearly-2 year old little brother.”  So he got the pirate stuff out.  There is tons of it.  Peter Pan pirates, Playmobil pirates, pirates from France, Ghouly pirates from Woolies… all with their own little guns and cuffs and paddles and swords.  Collecting up the tiny coins from a Playmobil treasure chest, I wondered aloud what kind of oddball toy designer inserts something into little children’s homes specifically aimed at choking their smaller siblings.  “Just write 4+ on the package, it’ll be fine.”  “And what are you eating?” I asked Son 2.  I fished in his mouth.  A tiny coin from a Playmobil treasure chest.   

Son 1’s sleep was very disturbed by the midnight banshee, and he was shattered today.  Misbehaving monstrously while our friends were here: “I’ve never seen him like this before,” said the other mum.  So after they left I put Son 2 to bed, and then him.  Both asleep at 2.30.  I cleared up the lunch things, tidied the toys, did some washing, sorted the veg box and made dinner.  Braised beef and sweet potato. 2nd stage weaning. Annabel Karmel.  I quadrupled the quantities to make enough for Mother, Son 1 and Son 2 for dinner, and then to freeze for baby food.  The Man rang.  He had planned an overnight business trip but cancelled because of the weather.  He’ll try again tomorrow.   He thought the casserole was nice.  A bit sweet, but very nice.

1.  7am

2.  Delicious

3.  The Run

Woke up at 7am to the sound of Son 2 aged 8m chatting away downstairs.  Another sticker for you my boy, for sleeping through again.  Three nights in a row.  Who knows if he’s settling now.  There are so many variables… we stopped standing him up after the Cranial Osteopath said he had a curve in his spine, although I think he needs that to be able to arch his head back to touch his heels every time he gets cross.  We changed his milk from the thickened anti-reflux stuff to Hipp organic in case he was suffering because he was bunged up inside.   And he is kind of back in the old routine after a month of holiday, christening and Mummy working her socks off on the Trade Show.

Son 1 aged 3 and a half went off to his swimming lesson with The Man.  Son 2 went back to sleep.  I had a choice of lying on the bed watching my sleeping angelic son or putting my make up on and doing my hair.  So I put a pillow either side of him and off to the mirror I went.  Made panfulls of food. I’ve run out of stuff for Son 2, so he had a shop-bought tub for lunch.  I did tricoloured pasta with red pepper, sweetcorn, peas and grated cheese for Son 1’s.  “Delicious” he said, several times.  “This is my favourite.”

Went for a run.  I couldn’t find my running bras so I used some from my pre-children days (I wear two together.)  A Good Thing for today is that I got into them.  So all was safely gathered in. I couldn’t breathe, but you can’t have everything.  Another Good Thing was coming back and not having two hours’ work ahead of me.  I’m not whingeing, I’m really lucky that  I can work in the evenings and have more time with the children, and I’m proud of getting back to work and still being alive two months later.  But this evening I could have had a bath, read the paper, read my book… so I had a look at the chat on Mumsnet instead. 

1.  Swimming

2.  Two boys asleep at once

3.  Running without a watch

Swimming again makes it into the 3 good things.  The Man and I both went and took both boys.  Son 1 aged 3 and a half started off wanting to play all the games we do when Son 2 aged 7m isn’t there.  Then he started playing with The Man, which gave me a bit of time with Son 2.  I think Son 2 likes swimming, I get lots of smiles and splashes, and he enjoys looking round at everyone.  He especially enjoys playing with Son 1, and is surprisingly tolerant of the splashing, bombing and over-exhuberant hugging he gets.  And then he gets tired and howls his head off till he gets a feed.        

The Man would never put swimming on a list of his best three things of the day.  Let’s just say he struggles to be positive before, during and for quite a long time after.  I tried to let him have the afternoon off - we had both boys asleep for about 2 hours.  I used the time cooking: 2 shepherd’s pies for tea, today and tomorrow.  A portion for Son 2’s lunch, a portion of mince for Son 1’s tea on Tuesday and two portions of lentil and tomato sauce for the freezer.  I was just finishing off when Son 2 woke up, closely followed by Son 1.

On London Marathon day I did my run without my watch on for the first time since I had Son 1.  In the old days I used to go out and just clock mileage.  The training plan that got me this far - 4 x 30 min runs a week - relies on watch watching the whole way round; running for 3 minutes, walking for 3 minutes x 5 etc.  So tonight I just decided I would run across the bridge at the top of the river and back, about 30 minutes, but usually takes a bit longer.  I went out without the watch, in daylight all the way and felt very good when I got back.  

1.  Washing and cooking and cleaning

2. Three songs with sneezes in

3.  Coming Home

Add a six day work spree to a day-long beach and visitor fest and you get a mighty pile of washing, nothing but frozen potato-based purees for the baby to eat, and a big box of muddy organic veg sitting in the hall.   I washed and cooked and cleaned, as Billy Bragg put it.  Wonder Nanny entertained the children - and me.  So Son 2 aged 6m and 4w now has a ton of minestrone soup and carrot/swede/sweetcorn, the washing’s been done, the veg are sorted and Son 1 aged 3 and a half and I have learned the words to Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer.   In return, we taught Wonder Nanny We Are The Red Men. Which I learned in Brownies 35 years ago, and is now don’t-know-where-to-start  politically incorrect but does have dang good actions. 

Son 1’s day also included three songs with sneezes in, making birthday cards for Auntie and one of our friends, reading Elmer and doing Elmer puzzles, grabbing the baby, squashing the baby, tickling the baby and getting his nose bitten and hair pulled by the baby.  He ended up with another of his elaborate and incomprehensible mixed toy games spread over the floor.  Doing my jobs meant stepping over a vast pile of animal stickers and stepping round a banshee in a firemen’s outfit ping-ponging back and forth.  The game also involved my ladle, potato masher, fish slice, serving spoon, ice cream scoop and various cheap plastic farm toys.  

Son 2’s reflux means I have prepared, one-handed, many many meals with him held in one arm/on one hip.  He’s always been interested in the colours, sounds and smells of cooking - but saliva sets his reflux off so I hold him to stop him crying.  Today he lunged for and gripped the handle of a cast-iron pan of bubbling cheese sauce and started tugging it off the hob.  Disentangled by Wonder Nanny.  Must remember that they can do more as they grow.  Just about got the tea on the table and Son 1 sitting on a chair to eat it when The Man came back from abroad.  Hooray.